


Undercover Lovers

by MeltMyHeartToStone



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Just some fun angst and sexual tension, Trope Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-06-26 05:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15656613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeltMyHeartToStone/pseuds/MeltMyHeartToStone
Summary: After a string of violent murders, Olivia and Rafael get pushed to go undercover together... IN A SEX SHOP!Rafael and Olivia are struggling to hide their feelings for each other while pretending to be an affectionate couple.





	1. Chapter One

The squads day had been brutal. Actually, their whole week had been brutal. There were three murders of high profile businessmen in a row, and all of them could be linked to a single woman, but the squad hasn't been able to prove anything. Chief Dodds has authorized two separate sting operations - Amanda and Fin attended one of her yoga classes, and Carisi tried to flirt with her at a bar. All of which were unsuccessful and Fin hasn’t stopped complaining about how sore his back was after being forced to do an intensive two-hour session of hot yoga. The team was meeting back at the SVU squad-room to regroup. Chief Dodds was particularly eager to hit the ground running, SVU’s inability to close this case was proving to be just the right amount of bad press for him to get involved. Dodds even dragged Rafael into the investigation, forcing him to placate the media all week long.

Rafael had ordered lunch from the deli across the street, hoping that food may subside some of the tense and snippy attitudes swarming around the office today. Raffael had eaten enough meals with the team that he knew what to order for everyone. He especially knew what to order for Olivia, they usually coordinated their orders. They liked to share sides; half fruit, half fries. Rafael craved fries but felt guilty whenever he ate a whole order by himself. Olivia never bothered herself with feeling guilty about such things, but she didn't mind sharing with Rafael. He always looked so cute when he would sheepishly sneak a fry from her plate that she could never say no when he asked her to share.

“We have to get another undercover operation underway immediately.”

“It’s not going to work - she is too perceptive” Carasi bit into a carrot and emphasized his statement by swinging his arm dramatically.

“No, we were just infiltrating the wrong parts of her life” Amanda interjected, quickly crossing the space of Olivia’s office to hand Chief Dodds a file she’d been holding onto.

“I’ve done some research into the - business - she's been the most tied too, and while she has no visible financial stake in the company she’s been spotted there four times in the past week. I did some more digging and found that one of her aliases is listed as the holder of an account that owns the building.”

“How the hell did we miss this initially” Dodds grumbled

“An oversight - with all the chaos, we never got to go back and check her aliases against all of the businesses she's been associated with.”

“Alright,” Dodds straightened his suit jacket and pushed the file back into Amanda’s hands. “How do you think we should handle this?”

“Everyone except Liv has already been undercover. If she's as smart as we think she is, she’s bound to recognize us if we show up again.”

“Especially because of how much attention Fin drew at that hot yoga class” Carisi joked, earning a glare from Fin who was trying to quietly eat his turkey sub.

“Understood. Lieutenant Benson can easily go undercover.”

“There's a slight problem with that,” Amanda interjected, “you see, this business-” Amanda stammered and glanced over at her boss and the ADA who was shifting closer and closer to each other on her office couch, “well, you see its-“

Dodds was quickly losing his patience, “Out with it Detective.” he said, efficiently cutting off the young detective.

“It's a sex shop.” “Excuse me?” “The business - she owns a sex shop. Well actually, the description online says its a ‘high-end sexual consultant service for loving couples.’”

“I see,” Dodds huffed. “We’ll have to get her a partner.”

“Liv can’t very well go into the shop alone.”

At the mention of her name, Olivia’s attention momentarily drifted from her lunch up towards the conversation that her team was having, “What can’t I do?”

“We’re sending you undercover” Dodds retorted impatiently.

“We are?” Confused, Olivia stared at her superior awaiting explanation.

“Yeah. Liv, you're the only one the suspect doesn't know.” Amanda handed the file to her boss, smirking as she saw Rafael steal an extra fry while Olivia was occupied looking over the file. “Oh, alright, I see.” Olivia murmured, handing the file back to Amanda “Well done Detective.”

“Let's get her a partner as soon as possible, I want this to start immediately.”

Carisi pried himself off the wall, walking back towards the team's lunch set out on Liv’s desk.“We could call Vice, see if they have anyone they'd be willing to loan us - they’d have to be the right age range through” Olivia glared at him and the detective retracted. “Sorry boss — it’s just, got to be believable.”

Amanda was about to call Vice and ask for any available officers but the small giggle that Amanda looked at the pair, nestled comfortably together, sharing food. “Barba should do it!” The room went still; Dodds raised his eyebrow disapprovingly, Fin let out a small chuckle, and Carisi spluttered the sandwich he was mid-bite in. “Come on! It’ll be perfect, they already act like a married couple already” Rollins gestured towards the pair who were leaning in strictly eating their lunch on the couch. They paused, both of their hands reaching into each other's meals; him in the fries, her in the fruit. Olivia pulled away first, placing the chunk of melon back on his plate and settling further into the couch. “I’m sorry what?” Olivia crossed her arms over her chest, attempting to regain her authority from her smirking employees.

“I’m saying that you and Barba make the perfect couple,” Amanda stated matter of factly, crossing her arms and challenging her superior. Olivia’s heartbeat quickened, and she detested how much that observation affected her. Olivia could feel Rafael tense next to her, and she was becoming more and more uncomfortable. “Amanda -”

“You’d be believable. She might just fall for it.” Dodds observed the pair from his spot at the corner of the office. Olivia glanced at him briefly, his stare causing her a sense of vulnerability she wasn’t comfortable with. “This might work” the Chief concluded, and with another once-over, at Rafael, he added, “And he’s the appropriate age.”

“She’s four years older than me!” Rafael exclaimed, Olivia, swatted at his arm, scowl still firmly in place. To his benefit, he had the foresight to look sheepish.

“Okay, everyone prep tonight. I want you both on the field tomorrow.”


	2. Chapter Two

Amanda sat awkwardly at Olivia’s desk, the case file open in front of her, and her boss rapidly taping her foot on the floor. Amanda was struggling to prep Olivia and Rafael for their undercover stint planned for tomorrow. Olivia who usually always stood close to the ADA, sat tersely on the other side of the room. And Rafael, who always had his eyes glued to the Lieutenant, held his head in downcast, apparently finding something on the floor to be overwhelmingly interesting.

Its been thirty minutes of muted replies and resigned sighs and they hadn’t even started covering the backstory that the pair had to perform tomorrow. She was beginning to think that her brilliant idea, was ending up to be not so bright. There was no way that Olivia and Rafael could fool the suspect with the way they were acting now. No one in their right mind would ever believe these two people even knew each other let alone that they were married.

“Alright. So - the cover that Dodd’s wants to go with is a couple recently married who are going through some…intimacy problems” Amanda stammered, carefully watching how Olivia’s face tensed with the word ‘intimacy.’

“The chief ordered new licenses and credit cards for both of you. You will keep your first name to ease the transition, but your last name will be Ortega.”

“Ortega?” Rafael chirped up for the first time since this process began, “Well I’m pleased to see they went the Latin route.” Olivia chuckled at that, meeting Rafael’s eyes for the first time since lunch. He smiled back softly at her, slightly easing the tension between the pair.

“I think you too can manage the prep yourselves. Really all the backstory you need is how you met, what you like about each other and what - intimacy problems you'll have.” Amanda felt the tension immediately return to the room as Rafael backed further into the wall of Olivia’s office, seems to attempt to distance himself as much as possible from the Lieutenant. “The rest of it can just be improvised.” Amanda stood to leave, passing the prosecutor who had pressed himself against the wall near the door, looking about ready to bolt, “Good luck Counsellor.”

Rafael only grimaced in return.

 

                                                                   ***

 

Olivia kept tapping her foot, and Rafael continued to stare mutely at the floor, both silently challenging the other to speak first. Everything was always a challenge with them. Olivia looked at her watch, it was past seven and she was tired.

“We have to have a story about how we met.” The sound of Olivia’s voice surprised Rafael so much that he snapped his head up and hit it lightly on the wall. Playing it off, he coughed and peeled himself off the wall, rubbing his neck slightly. 

“At a bar.” Olivia’s glare in response told him that she did not find his suggestion appropriate. “Fine,” Rafael ran a hand through his hair, passing in front of her. “We met at a criminology society convention or something.”

“Raf” exasperated, Olivia rolled her eyes and snipped back “we can’t be connected to our jobs.”

Rafael sighed and sat down on the couch dramatically, “Alright, what do you suggest?”

“How about you represented me in some kind of frivolous lawsuit?”

“We can’t be connected to our jobs, remember?” Rafael spat back at her.

“Come on Barba, no one would ever believe you're not a lawyer.” Olivia stared back at him, trailing her eyes over his body, he would have enjoyed the attention if he didn't know what she was doing; pulling him in only to throw him back out again. “You’re such a lawyer Barba, get over it.”

Rafael’s body retracted from her when she used his last name. She always did that when she was mad at him. Olivia’s eyes gleamed the way they always do when she's gearing up for a fight. Rafael had seen this look many times, and he never was able to resist the bait. “What exactly does that mean?”

He regretted acquiescing the moment he saw the grin pulling at the sides of her mouth. She caught him. “The way you walk, talk and speak all scream lawyer. No one in the world is that good of an actor Rafael.”

“God fine Olivia, whatever, let's just skip to the next question.”

“What we like about each other?” Olivia almost hummed. Tilting her head to the side, one eyebrow lifting slightly as she eyed him over the table. “You searching for a compliment Barba?” She smirked at him, and Barba felt it in his chest.

“I’m sure you won't have any trouble finding nice things to say about me.” She scoffed at him but quickly, he could see her features soften, the smirk melted into a sincere, fond, reminiscent smile. Rafael always got antsy when she looked at him like that.

“Alright!” he popped off the sofa, crossing over to her desk, placed his hand on it and leaning in. He liked the look she gave him when he towered over her. “Now we just need to figure out what kind of intimacy problems we could possibly ever have.” He leered at her, his increased height giving him a sense of power that he relished.

“Any ideas?” Inching closer to her, Rafael starred at her lecherously, leering “I think our only option is to tell her that you - simply - can’t keep your hands off of me,” A self-satisfied smirk splayed across Rafael’s face and he took a step back from her, crossing his arms in triumph.

Mimicking his moves, Olivia crossed her arms - a similar smirk on full display on her face as well - “Now Raf,” she mewled, “We have to come up with something realistic.”

“Realistic?” Olivia nodded, encouraging him to continue. “Well, what do you have in mind?”

“Oh, that's easy.” Olivia straightened up in her chair, eyes gleaming - he knew he was in trouble. “We’ll just say you're selfish in bed.”

“I am not a selfish lover Olivia!” She hit a nerve. His anger surprised him, but he couldn’t stop it from bubbling up in his chest. He couldn't stop the sneer he sent towards her. And he couldn't make himself feel bad when she looked up at him concerned. Those big loving, sincere eyes. That look that made him nervous.

But he wasn't nervous now, he was just angry. Angry at his best friend. Angry because they were best friends. Angry that she flirted with him. Angry that she was always an arm's length away. Angry that she could make him feel more vulnerable then he's ever felt. Angry that she could dare tell him he loved selfishly. But most of all he was angry that she could make him angry.

He couldn’t look at her. They had to pretend to be a couple tomorrow, and the thought of it was making him sick. He gathered his stuff quickly from the couch, pulling his coat on, eyes once again glued to the floor. He headed for the door not daring to look at her - those loving, sincere, eyes - and he walked out. Halfway down the hallway, he thought he could faintly hear her say his name but the thoughts in his head were so loud he couldn't believe it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I have some fun things planned for these two!


	3. Chapter 3

Olivia had been nursing the same cup of coffee for the past hour. She made sure to get into the office early that morning, telling herself that she needed to review the file to feel more comfortable with the undercover assignment, but in truth, she was feeling restless since Rafael stormed out last nite. She had many fights with colleagues, but this was different. This was personal. She couldn’t get the argument out of her mind, the way his anger just seeped from him, the way he looked at her, that hurt, betrayed expression. He had never looked at her like that before. Every time she thought about it, her heart dropped. They had to pretend to be married in less than four hours, and at this point, she wasn’t sure she could even meet his eye.

Rollins had left case notes on her desk after she went for the evening. The first page detailed all of their suspect's known aliases, as well as the one listed as the account holder tied to the sex shop; Marlena Davidson. Rollins had found online that Marlena Davidson was advertised as the speaker for many ‘lifestyle coaching seminars’ that ran through the sex shop on the weekends, the whole team was fairly positive that they would find her in the shop. Most of the brief detailed all the background information Barba and her are supposed to uncover during their little mission; her finances, known associates, favorite international vacation spots, etc. The last page was an in-depth brief about the type of ‘intimacy coaching’ her store offered. Olivia thought it was a simple sex shop, but apparently, Marlena provided in-depth coaching and claimed to be a specialist in instructing couples on how too reignite passion and incorporating toys into their sex lives.

Olivia swallowed hard. The image of sitting close to Rafael and talking about passion was too much for her tired brain to bear. This was going to be harder then she thought.

A slight movement in the squad-room caught Olivia’s attention. All her squad members had filtered in, chatting lightly with each other, settling in for the day ahead. Olivia was about to continue reviewing the brief when the squad room erupted in laughter. Olivia took a closer look and found Rafael sitting in between Amanda and Carisi, sipping coffee and smiling at the young detective. He was dressed casually; worn blue jeans and a black cotton shirt, which even from the sitting position she could tell clung to him tighter than any of his court-wear ever did. If she didn't feel so guilty, her eyes would have lingered longer on his torso.

Olivia didn't understand why Rafael was sitting with her detectives; he's never shown any interest in being friends with them before. He usually headed straight for her office, ducking his head and avoiding eye contact. In fact, when he made it into her office, safe from their questions, he usually complained about them; especially Carisi. Seeing him cozied up to her squad and easily joking around with Carisi was shocking, and she couldn't help but think that he was trying to get a rise out of her.

Olivia went to greet her detectives and scope out to see how they all suddenly found Rafael so hilarious. Olivia was almost out of her office when she saw that all of her detectives were drinking coffee, but not just any coffee, the international specialty coffee from the small cafe downtown that Rafael had taken her too a couple of weeks ago. All of her detectives had a cup, and Rafael had dolled them out. Bringing each other coffee and joking around was their thing, and Rafael was purposefully showing her that he could maintain all those things without her.

Amanda noticed her first. “Good-morning Lieutenant.” Calling everyone's attention to her, resting casually on her office's door frame.

“Good morning everyone,” the last word she spoke was emphasized by making direct eye contact with Rafael. “Barba-”

Cutting her off he talked in icy tones, “Do you need me?”

Thrown off by his cool demeanor, Olivia stuttered, paused - tucking hair behind her ears - taking a calming breath, “No, um - we’re getting miked in about an hour.”

“I’ll be there.” Rafael quickly turned back to Carisi, on a quick glance he seemed to be helping him finish a crossword puzzle. Olivia’s heart spluttered; they would work on those together over coffee during morning meetings.

Taking a small step forward, Olivia tried one more time to garner his attention. “Raf, I’m preparing in my office if you would like to join me.” His nickname was a low blow, but she was desperate.

“I’m plenty prepared, thank you.”

Resigning herself, she turned around, closed her office door behind her, and sat down at her desk; alone.

 

***

 

Rafael arrived in the conference room first. Placing the remnants of his breakfast in the trash bin, he sat down - watching the tech guy unload Olivia’s and his mikes, laying them side by side on the table. Side by side. How ironic, Rafael could almost laugh.

He was still hurt. He knew he was acting childishly, last night in her office, and even more so in the squad room this morning. But he was beyond frustrated. He foolishly allowed himself to believe that they were broaching a new phase of their relationship. He let himself enjoy their time together more then he should have. He opened up to her. He cared for her; always, and without limits. And when she joked that he would obviously be a selfish lover, all their time together, all the dinners and breakfasts, the late night meetings and playdates with her son, everything they built turned bitter.

But he did need to get over it and be a professional. He invested in her, and she turned down his offer. It is as simple as that. Now he just needed to regain his dignity and move on with their working relationship. They worked wonderfully together, and he would do anything to save that.

Olivia still hadn’t shown up to the conference room. Rafael was starting to get worried, they were supposed to be fitted for their mikes ten minutes ago, and it wasn’t like Olivia to be late. He went looking for her in the break room, thinking that maybe she went to get a cup of coffee before they set out. When she wasn't there he was going to head back to the conference room when he noticed the door to her office was closed; it was never closed. Looking around the squad room, Rollins was the only detective at her desk. She gave him a small smile and then tilted her head towards Olivia’s office. He understood what she was trying to say; you better fix this.

Hesitantly, he knocked - hearing a soft, muffled ‘come in,’ he took a calming breath and carefully pulled open the door. Rafael saw her briefly wipe her eyes as she turned away from him, subtly throwing away a tissue in the bin next to her desk. From their time together he learned that Olivia Benson was actually one big cry baby. He once caught her tearing up while they were out to dinner because ‘Unchained Melody’ was playing and ‘Sam was a good-looking man who deserved better.’ She was tough when she needed to be, but there were some things that just made her gush. The thought that he was the cause of those tears made his heartache.

Carefully, he stepped into her office “Olivia?”

She cleared her throat and looked at him with watery eyes, “Are the mikes ready?

“Yes - there in the conference room.”

“Great” Standing up she gathered her blazer from the chair, “let's go” signaling to the door for him to lead the way, her head still bowed toward the floor.

Rafael didn’t leave her office; instead, he stood in front of the door blocking her exit. “Olivia?” she still didn't look up at him. “Liv,” he said again, putting his hand lightly on her arm to get her attention. Olivia timidly met his eye, her face immediately crumbling. Gone was the stone-faced Lieutenant, and instead stood Olivia. His Liv. She started to tear up, and he gently pushed her into a hug, nestling her head into his chest.

“I’m so sorry-”

“Liv, its okay. Let's just catch the bad guy, hmm?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter Four

Olivia was standing close to Seductions, the gaudy sex shop tied to their suspect, nervously fidgeting with her sundress. Dodds requested they each have a wardrobe change as to not expose themselves. Marlena had out-smarted all their other undercover operations, and they could not be too careful. But, the ridiculous bright floral dress and huge dangly earrings Dodds chose for her to wear made Olivia briefly suspect that he was getting back at her for the complications her stubborn behavior caused on the past couple of cases. 

Rafael walked to stand next to her, hanging up his phone and placing it in his jean pocket - Dodds insisted that Rafael dress casually as well. “They're all in position, you ready?”

Olivia gave him a small nod, once again fidgeting with the hem of her dress, it was far too short for her liking. Her movements drew Rafael’s attention and a small smirk spread across his lips. She felt absolutely bare without her work suits, and the way Rafael was looking at her caused a different kind of unease to spread thoroughly throughout her belly.

Noticing her discomfort, Rafael placed his hand lightly on her lower back, leaning in slightly, speaking softly in her ear, “Take a breath, everything will go splendidly.” Olivia gave him a sweet smile and Rafael, spurred on by that dress, his jeans, and her smile-tenderly took her hand in his. Olivia paused, pulling back slightly and raising an eyebrow at him.

“You’re my wife for the next hour or so - indulge me.” 

She did. The two walked hand in hand into the store. 

 

***

Olivia noticed her first, perched delicately on a stool at the back of the store typing aimlessly on a computer. Melinda looked just like the photos in her briefing; noisy red hair, small mousey features and stark, almost upsettingly, fair skin. Olivia shivered, Melinda’s stiff bouffant styled hair and her ample cleavage spilling out of her two-sizes-too-small shirt immediately put her on edge. 

Olivia tugged lightly on Rafael’s shirt to get his attention. He didn't notice her at first, too distracted looking at something in the well-lit display cases on the left wall. She traced his eyes line to the glass shelves holding ornate and delicate looking glass dildos. Olivia instantly blushed, letting an amused sound escape her lips.

“They’re kind of pretty?” Tilting his head Rafael smiled, reveling in Olivia's astonishment. 

“Rafael!” She exclaimed, swatting at his arm, looking around them in horror. He only responded with a sly smile, walking further into the store quickly getting distracted by another display case. Olivia trailed timidly behind him, pulling her phone out of her pocket and checking it out of habit. 

‘“Im sorry, am I not entertaining enough for you?” Olivia looked up from her phone to catch Rafael staring at her, an incredulous look on his face, and in his hands, bobbing up and down were two bright neon pink dildos. Olivia could feel her cheeks blush, and she went to hide her face with her hands. This display of weakness only inspired Rafael to embarrass her more, when she dared to glance back up at him he was dancing the salsa with the two pink dildos still bobbing around in his hands. 

“Rafa! Oh my god-“ Olivia lurched at Rafael trying to grab the dildos from his hands, “I am not here to play keep away with penises - give them to me Rafael I swear to god!.”

“Can I help you two?“ Rafael and Olivia both snapped up and looked at the amused figure standing behind them, both being too preoccupied with their antics to notice Marlena. 

Olivia was too stunned to respond, caught red-handed, well pink handed - wrestling over two neon pink dildos. Luckily Rafael wasn’t as shocked, “Yes, my wife and I-” glancing at Olivia, Rafael placed his hand on the small of her back. “we’re hoping to have a consulting session.”

“Ahhh I see.” Marlena lifted her eyebrows eyeing the two over her tortoise-rimmed glasses. “Well, my first tip is that is not the way you are supposed to play with those” pointing at the two dildos the pair were still partially fighting over.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry. We were just… he-” Olivia stammered on, pointing dramatically at Rafael quickly noticing that the dildo was still in her hand, she hid it behind her back her cheeks once again flushing. 

Marlena chuckled, cutting Olivia off “Oh honey it’s fine. This isn't the first silicon sword fight I've seen.” Eying the pair once more, Marlena grabbed the dildos put them back on the shelf and then turned to walk away, quickly looking over her shoulder “come on you two, my morning slot just opened up.”

“Lucky us.” Rafael murmured stealing a knowing glance at Olivia, who simply glared at him, pushing on his shoulder hard to follow Marlena.


	5. Chapter Five

Marlena led Olivia and Rafael into a secluded office in the back of the store. The room was dimly lit and smelled heavily of patchouli, Rafael winced at the overwhelming smell. Once they were all in the room, Marlena reached into her top desk drawer and pulled out an obtrusively bright red lipstick, making a show of reapplying her lipstick

“Now,” Marlena started, stretching her hands out in front of her desk, “You two sit yourself down - I don’t bite” Marlena chucked, leering obviously at Rafael.

“I highly doubt that” Rafael responded quietly, snickering to himself. Marlena replied with a throaty laugh and reached for Rafael’s hand over the table, Rafael immediately tensed turning towards Olivia with a panicked look on his face. Olivia just cleared her throat garnering Marlena’s attention, and she slowly pulled her hand away.

“You two are here for intimacy consultation, right?”

“Yes - we are” Olivia grabbed Rafael’s hand to seal the deal. It started as a mechanical movement, but when he covered her hand in his, the tightening of her stomach surprised her.

“I am free now for the initial session, but we should talk about the price tag first - my services aren’t cheap.”

“Of course we’ll pay whatever.” Rafael insisted.

“Lucky girl.” Marlena purred, brazenly winking at Olivia. Olivia just tensed up more, Rafael could have sworn he saw a slight blush.

“Now there are two paths you can choose from,” Marlena said, breezing past Olivia's uncomfort, “There's a one-hour session that mainly focuses on incorporating new toys into ya’lls sex lives.” Now Rafael though he might blush. “Or -“ Marlena continued, “there is a more in-depth path that focuses on working out intimacy issues - and, if necessary, I have a weekend getaway package coming up.”

“I think we’re more focused on the latter option, right liv?” Olivia raised her head slightly and nodded in agreement, “whatever you think we need.”

“Alright then, let us talk over some of your issues then,” Marlena said unsympathetically, positioning her pen on the page, looking up at them expectantly. Olivia tensed up, Rafael could feel her body spasm slightly next to him, she quickly tangled their hands and promptly grabbed the material of her sundress and started to worry the fabric. “Well” Rafael started, trying to cover for Olivia’s silence, “We have been having some intimacy issues.”

Marlena put down her pen dramatically, raising her eyebrow indignantly, “Yeah honey I know that, that why ya’ll are here!”

“She wants specifics Rafa” Olivia chimed in, looking up at him with this hopeful, pleading look. Rafael groaned internally, she really was going to leave this all too him. “Our intimacy issues - well…” Rafael paused, taking one more glance at Olivia who was still staring fixedly at her lap. “Well, you see - I adore her” covering her hand once again, “and she’s very, um- shy.” Olivia whipped her head around to look at him, she sought something akin to angry, but Rafael couldn't get himself to care - she is the one who pushed him into this.

“Shy how?”

“Well” Rafael continued even though Olivia had dropped his hand purposefully and continued worrying the fabric of her dress, “I am naturally adventurous and - well I am very giving when it comes too - ” Rafael paused again, grappling for the right word, “intimacy” was the one he chose. “And, Olivia is reticent when it comes to those things, and I would like to have a more open line of communication with her so maybe we could explore more together.”

Marlena strategically eyed both Rafael and Olivia, placing her pen down purposefully on her notepad; “I see” she responded thoughtfully. “So what you really want is your wife to reciprocate your - passion?”

Olivia let out a bemused indignant laugh, crossing her arms over her torso.

“I guess that’s the goal,” Rafael said, wary of Olivia’s response, “there’s a lot I would like to do that she’s not interested in.”

Marlena let out a snide chuckle “I could have told you that the moment you entered the store.”

* * *

 

The further they walked away from the store the more nervous Rafael became. Olivia had not said a single word since they left, and the silence felt deafening.

“Liv, is there something wrong?” She dared a glance towered him, but her eyes barely made eye contact, quickly roaming around his face - never sticking to one spot too long.

After some time, Olivia slowed her pace and quietly said: “Those were concrete examples.”

“I couldn't very well have been ambiguous now could I? We were in intimacy counseling for christ sake!”

“But-” Olivia stopped walking forcing Rafael to turn around to look at her, she wearily looked up at him, “It just sounded like you were speaking from experience - like everything was very, um, real.”

“Olivia we’re not really a couple, we’re not having intimacy issues.” even he tensed up from his tone.

“I know,” Olivia said softly, once again picking up her pace and walking past him. They walked in silence for a couple of blocks. Rafael was captivated by the way her dress swayed with her movements. It simultaneously with her and against her, he momentarily chuckled at the irony; Olivia’s dress also moved in nonsensical directions. Rafael realized that he had never seen her in a dress, she was so much softer without her gun, vulnerable even. A vulnerable Olivia was not something that Rafael was used too, he couldn’t believe she had clammed up so much back in the store, he had never seen her so uncomfortable. Rafael assumed initially that she was playing a character, that it would be more convincing if she looked upset. But the longer the ‘consultation’ went on, the more Rafael was not so sure. And now, looking over at Olivia, the silent brooding air she had, he was even more uncertain.

“Rafael - am I withholding?” The question caught him off guard. She looked so uncertain, so scared.

“Of course not.”

“Are you sure? Because everything you said in there, I feel like its-”

“Hey” Rafael grabbed her hands and tried to comfort her, his eyes searched her face, “You are-” Rafael was interrupted by Carisi running out of the station to meet them.

“Good job you two, Lieu - I’ve called Dodds about our progress, he seems pleased.”

“Great, Carisi- ” Olivia pulled her hands away from Rafael, pulling away from him and fully facing her detective. “Tell everyone we will debrief in an hour.”


End file.
